First the convenience stores abandoned the push to allow wine sales in grocery stores, or WIGS.

Now, Gov. Paterson appears to have poured the idea down the drain as well. The WIGS proposal was missing from yesterday’s budget bill that Paterson tried to give to lawmakers.

While lawmakers refused to accept the bills, part of their ongoing fight with the governor, this marked the first time that WIGS has fallen off the table from the governor’s end.

“In our view it’s a major concesssion by the governor,” remarked Michael McKeon, a spokesman for The Last Store on Main Street, an organization aiming to keep wine sales in the exclusive domain of liquor stores.

The WIGS supporters, though, aren’t giving up. They are taking note of the apparent limbo that the state budget situation is right now.

“There are only three things we know about the budget right now,” said Michael Rabinowitz from New Yorkers for Economic Growth and Open Markets. “No one is agreeing on anything, there is a gaping hole to fill, and no one wants to raise taxes.”

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